Matt Youngmark's Blog, page 20
March 25, 2011
Even more adventures to choose from
I guess last Friday's post was more or less the official announcement for Thrusts of Justice, the upcoming second book in the Chooseomatic series. I'm still plugging away at it, but won't be comfortable scheduling a release date until I have a solid draft that I'm really happy with. So what are you supposed to read in the meantime? If you enjoyed Zombocalype Now and are chomping at the bit for more nostalgia-tinged choose-your-own-adventure revamps aimed at grownups, I'm not the only writer to have stumbled upon that particular goldmine. Here are some other books you might want to check out:
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper
Authors Rudolf Kerkhoven and Daniel Pitts sort of took the opposite approach with this book from what I did in ZN -- rather than being up against a zombie outbreak, you're cast as a hapless high school janitor forced to deal with the shadowy world of custodial intrigue. Yes, of course you run up against some kind of conspiracy, and must use all of your skills (most of which are related to cleaning products, but you're a damn good janitor, and proud of it) to get to the bottom of things. The situations get pretty absurd, and it's good, clean fun (see what I did there?). Also, I ran into Kerkhoven on the Kindle Boards, and we challenged each other not to obsessively check our Amazon sales for a week (I'm happy to report that we both succeeded, although now I'm back to checking mine twelve times a day and ripe for a second intervention).
Banana Hammock
J.A. Konrath hardly needs my help to move books, but this foray into interactive fiction isn't one of his stronger-selling titles, so maybe I can actually help throw a few readers his way. Harry McGlade is a recurring character in Konrath's Jack Daniels thrillers, where he's mostly used for comic relief -- here, you'll play the part of private investigator Harry, and it's all comedy all the time with no relief in sight. You're immediately pulled into a web of Amish deceit by a client who is clearly the least Amish woman ever, but it's not your job to be smarter than Harry, here. It's your job to make all the stupid decisions he would, and just hope you don't get too dead, too quick. Konrath has a lot of fun with the CYOA format, and although it might be a little off-key for some of his regular readers, if you're looking for something goofy that doesn't take itself even a little seriously, this book is good times.
Beer, Women and Bad Decisions
In this book you're cast as what the Penny Arcade guys would call "some species of Bro," and your goal is very simply and sincerely to get yourself laid. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but if the word "adventure" to you means the same sort of thing that it probably does to Tucker Max, you should grind this CYOA up and snort it off the back of a stripper. Or something.
The thing I find most interesting about these books is that even though we all had more or less the same idea -- to update the 1980s kids books for adults -- we all went about it in really different ways. Seriously, don't pick these up expecting them to read just like Zombocalypse Now, but if you got a kick out of my book, at the very least download the free samples from Amazon and find out what choosing your own adventure means to them.
The Adventures of Whatley Tupper
Authors Rudolf Kerkhoven and Daniel Pitts sort of took the opposite approach with this book from what I did in ZN -- rather than being up against a zombie outbreak, you're cast as a hapless high school janitor forced to deal with the shadowy world of custodial intrigue. Yes, of course you run up against some kind of conspiracy, and must use all of your skills (most of which are related to cleaning products, but you're a damn good janitor, and proud of it) to get to the bottom of things. The situations get pretty absurd, and it's good, clean fun (see what I did there?). Also, I ran into Kerkhoven on the Kindle Boards, and we challenged each other not to obsessively check our Amazon sales for a week (I'm happy to report that we both succeeded, although now I'm back to checking mine twelve times a day and ripe for a second intervention).
Banana Hammock
J.A. Konrath hardly needs my help to move books, but this foray into interactive fiction isn't one of his stronger-selling titles, so maybe I can actually help throw a few readers his way. Harry McGlade is a recurring character in Konrath's Jack Daniels thrillers, where he's mostly used for comic relief -- here, you'll play the part of private investigator Harry, and it's all comedy all the time with no relief in sight. You're immediately pulled into a web of Amish deceit by a client who is clearly the least Amish woman ever, but it's not your job to be smarter than Harry, here. It's your job to make all the stupid decisions he would, and just hope you don't get too dead, too quick. Konrath has a lot of fun with the CYOA format, and although it might be a little off-key for some of his regular readers, if you're looking for something goofy that doesn't take itself even a little seriously, this book is good times.
Beer, Women and Bad Decisions
In this book you're cast as what the Penny Arcade guys would call "some species of Bro," and your goal is very simply and sincerely to get yourself laid. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but if the word "adventure" to you means the same sort of thing that it probably does to Tucker Max, you should grind this CYOA up and snort it off the back of a stripper. Or something.
The thing I find most interesting about these books is that even though we all had more or less the same idea -- to update the 1980s kids books for adults -- we all went about it in really different ways. Seriously, don't pick these up expecting them to read just like Zombocalypse Now, but if you got a kick out of my book, at the very least download the free samples from Amazon and find out what choosing your own adventure means to them.
March 24, 2011
Four Stars and Up
Just discovered
Four Stars and Up
, a site that lists highly-rated Kindle books -- one of the big concerns folks seem to have with the indie Kindle boom is how they can separate the wheat from the (horrible, horrible) chaff. So perhaps this is a good place to browse if you're looking for undiscovered ebook gems?
Also, it seems to be mostly reader-driven, so I'd feel weird submitting Zombocalypse Now myself, but I've got 15 out of 16 four and five star reviews, baby. I'm not saying anyone reading this SHOULD submit ZN to Four Stars and Up, I'm just saying they COULD, you know?
Also, it seems to be mostly reader-driven, so I'd feel weird submitting Zombocalypse Now myself, but I've got 15 out of 16 four and five star reviews, baby. I'm not saying anyone reading this SHOULD submit ZN to Four Stars and Up, I'm just saying they COULD, you know?
March 18, 2011
Super (thanks for asking)
My post at ftE this week is about the animated exploits of the Justice League, one of my favorite cartoons of all time. And just for you, here's one of my favorite moments from the series, where The Flash has accidentally switches brains with Lex Luthor and is trying to act all Lex Luthory in the middle of some secret base full of supervillains:
Superheroes have been on my mind a lot lately (yes, even more so than usual) because I've been hammering away at the second book in the Chooseomatic series, Thrusts of Justice . The first choice will send you down the path toward becoming one of three different heroes: A dark vigilante who hides in the shadows and strikes fear in the hearts of criminals, an armored, cosmic protector, or a wisecracking mutant with mysterious powers you'll have to discover along the way. You'll have opportunities to play the villain instead, of course, but I have to warn you that something nefarious is afoot, and if you don't find out what, things are going to get real ugly real quick. (What I'm trying to tell you here is that switching from zombies to superheroes doesn't mean you'll be dying with any less frequency.)
Thrusts of Justice Doesn't have a release date yet, but I will definitely keep you posted. I'm Super-excited (see what I did there?) about this one, folks -- if you like the little bits in Zombocalypse Now where something that happens in one path gives you added insight to something else in an entirely different part of the book, You're going to freaking LOVE this.
Superheroes have been on my mind a lot lately (yes, even more so than usual) because I've been hammering away at the second book in the Chooseomatic series, Thrusts of Justice . The first choice will send you down the path toward becoming one of three different heroes: A dark vigilante who hides in the shadows and strikes fear in the hearts of criminals, an armored, cosmic protector, or a wisecracking mutant with mysterious powers you'll have to discover along the way. You'll have opportunities to play the villain instead, of course, but I have to warn you that something nefarious is afoot, and if you don't find out what, things are going to get real ugly real quick. (What I'm trying to tell you here is that switching from zombies to superheroes doesn't mean you'll be dying with any less frequency.)
Thrusts of Justice Doesn't have a release date yet, but I will definitely keep you posted. I'm Super-excited (see what I did there?) about this one, folks -- if you like the little bits in Zombocalypse Now where something that happens in one path gives you added insight to something else in an entirely different part of the book, You're going to freaking LOVE this.
March 4, 2011
And he never slept again.
March 3, 2011
Spine-chilling
As you can imagine, a zombie-themed choose-your-own-adventure for adults and teens isn't really the easiest book to categorize. Amazon currently allows ebooks to be listed under two of their book categories (which are sort of loosely based on the industry standard BISAC codes), but I could never even find one where I thought Zombocalypse Now truly fit. I originally stuck it in and Fiction/Horror/Occult, since that's where I saw some other zombie books, and Fiction/Humor, because, you know, it's not exactly World War Z. But the humor category seemed like a bit of a ghost town, so I figured I'd experiment with marketing it as Young Adult and see what happened...
Meet the Author (me) at booklending.com
I'm on the
Meet the Author podcast
today at Booklending.com! I'm almost afraid to listen to it -- since I was on about three kinds of cold medicine last week when it was recorded -- but it was a lot of fun to do and hopefully I make at least a little sense. The conversation ranged from Zombocalypse Now and upcoming Chooseomatic Books to indie authors and the rapidly changing landscape of the publishing industry.
If you're a Kindle owner, by the way, definitely check out Booklending.com -- I did a post on it last month (when it was still called the Kindle Lending Club). Amazon lets you lend each e-book once, to any human being in the world with a Kindle, and booklending.com is where to go to find people who want to borrow yours and lend you theirs. Awesoemsauce!
If you're a Kindle owner, by the way, definitely check out Booklending.com -- I did a post on it last month (when it was still called the Kindle Lending Club). Amazon lets you lend each e-book once, to any human being in the world with a Kindle, and booklending.com is where to go to find people who want to borrow yours and lend you theirs. Awesoemsauce!
March 2, 2011
March 1, 2011
Spine-chilling!
As you can imagine, a zombie-themed choose-your-own-adventure for adults and teens isn't really the easiest book to categorize. Amazon currently allows ebooks to be listed under two of their book categories (which are sort of loosely based on the industry standard BISAC codes), but I could never even find one where I thought Zombocalypse Now truly fit. I originally stuck it in and Fiction/Horror/Occult, since that's where I saw some other zombie books, and Fiction/Humor, because, you know, it's not exactly World War Z. But the humor category seemed like a bit of a ghost town, so I figured I'd experiment with marketing it as Young Adult and see what happened...
February 25, 2011
Happy President's Day, everyone.
You're welcome.
World Domination at your own pace
I've got a new post up at ftE today, in which I wax poetic about a 5-year-old Nintedo DS game. So, you know. Enjoy that.
